The title says it all!!! Ontario's first ever Thick-billed Kingbird was found last evening at Presqu'ile Provincial Park by Bill Gilmour! Bill et al. watched it go to roost just east of the Calf Pasture last evening, so Brando, Josh and I met up at Hwy 6 and the 401 last evening around 10pm and drove to Mike's place, just north of Belleville.
We decided it would be best to arrive before first light, so we were up at 4:45am this morning, out the door by 5:15 and on site at 6am! Around 6:25 this morning, the Kingbird woke up, and announced its presence, and everyone was very satisfied! This is an absolutely remarkable bird to be seen in Ontario. I was reminiscing how 2 winters ago, when Mike, my Dad and I were southern California we twitched one which was wintering in San Diego - needles to say, I never thought I'd be seeing one here in Ontario!
Here are some pics and a short video of the bird (listen for its distinctive call note):
Attached below is print screen shot of the distribution for this species from eBird.
Pretty impressive!
From what I understand, there are single records from Colorado and British Columbia. The species also seems to be casual in Texas, and California.
Well, its been a while since I lasted posted. I was fortunate enough to be offered a position to volunteer with the ROM/CWS/OMNR and conduct shorebird surveys on western James Bay. This post serves as a summary of my stay there, what we did and what we saw!
I (along with several others) left southern Ontario on July 28th, driving north to Cochrane. On the 29th we boarded the Polar Bear Express and arrived in the middle of the afternoon in Moosonee. The 30th ended up being an extra day in Moosonee, while we waited for the helicopter pilot to arrive from northern Quebec, and to get the Longridge and Little Piskwamish crews out. The following morning (the 31st) we (my brother Mike, and Jeanette Goulet) left for our new home for the next 15 days, at Chickney Channel.
To see a map of where we were (along with the other crews), check this link out! Map
The map below shows our camp, as well as the two locations, where we surveyed from:
This was part of our hike out every morning
Common Redpoll's bred around our camp. This is likely one of the most southern breeding locations in the world.
Christian Friis - project co-ordinator, and song lyric master
A. White Pelicans in the distance
Our sleeping quarters. My bunk is the top left.
Our lovely kitchen (and Jeanette!)
There were two cabins, though the one on the left had been raided by a Black Bear previous to our time there.
Looking west from the tower. Note the two mist-nets in the foreground.
High tide coming in.
A. White Pelicans struggling in the wind.
Flock of Hudsonian Godwits resting.
Dunlin
Le Conte's Sparrow
Bad-ass storm coming our way.
More bad-ass storm's coming our way. Mike and Jeanette are way to the north, though look like blobs.
Nelson's Sparrow - this was the best bird we banded (I banded it!)
Shorebirds moving by at high tide. I counted 248 birds in this pic.
Marbled Godwit - I think of a juvenile. Our high count was 534 on July 31st
Night sky of the Big Dipper - not sure if this will show up
Aerial view of the fen we more or less lived in
(more) A. White Pelicans. These were near 'Nomansland' Point, north of Longridge Point
Longridge Point
And here are some videos I took while there:
So in total, I saw something like 98 species in total (the camp total was 105-110). To see a post that Christian Friis sent to Ontbirds, click here.
Well breeding birds are over, so I can now recuperate and get ready for the next trip/surveys - James Bay. But before we get ahead of ourselves, I just got back from a 3 day jaunt to New Brunswick to do some bird work. I had only been to New Brunswick once before this, and this was a long time ago (not in a galaxy far, far away...) - 10 years to be exact! So needless to say I was pretty excited when I was asked to do this. Heck with the chance of seeing some cool species, why not?!
So anyways, I flew in Friday afternoon, did surveys that evening, Saturday morning, and again Sunday morning. Our site was located roughly 80km east of Bathurst.
I should mention, that this is 'roughly' where the area I was....
Anywho, the area was pretty boreal, with lots of youngish stands of forest, primarily spruce and some aspen. Our first site yielded the most interesting species - Bicknell's Thrush, where a single bird was (still) on territory. I heard the bird sing a few times, but wasn't able to see it.
This site had Bicknell's Thrush. Elevation was close to 700m.
It was definitely an interesting place to bird - especially since I haven't spent alot of time there. I was pleasantly surprised to get things like Blackpoll Warbler, and most of the finches (WWCR, PUFI, PISI), while on the coast getting things like Northern Gannets, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Black Guillemots, and even a Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Gannets were pretty common in Chaleur Bay, likely close 120 were seen on Saturday afternoon.
Black Guillemot. We saw about 10-15 guillemots in total.
I was also able to take some non-birding pics (my sister will be happy with this...) while out and about.
My parents visited this same church WAY back in the day (it was a Wednesday...), which I thought was kind of neat, since it had survived the last ice age and all.
I was in the heart of Acadia.
I'll give a prize to whoever counts the # of Cormorants in here...
And who could forget the memorable experience of having 3(!!!!!) flat tires in <24 hours!!
Our 3rd flat started as a slow leak, so we were able to drive back to Bathurst (~80km from our work site), but as soon as we pulled into the garage she went completely flat. I guess in this case, if you didn't have bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all!
So, last fall Brandon 'the Hulk' Holden, Barbed Wire (Barb Charlton), Mike and I did a trip up to Netitishi Point, situated on James Bay from October 28th-November 11th. I never did a post with pics/vids from the trip, so now that I have some time and since I'm heading back up to James Bay in a few weeks I thought I'd start getting myself pumped up by posting about my last trip up this way, and also share with you people some bits and pieces of our trip.
First off, if you want to see the list(s) of what species we saw, check this link out : Ontbirds Post
Within the Ontbirds post, there are links to our ebird checklists, so you can see exactly what we saw.
Below are some 'general' pics of our trip:
Our first view of the Moose River (on the train)
Our first morning in Moosonee, looking towards Moose Factory
Getting our shit together, literally
Lift-off!
The pilot saw a Beluga around here, but I couldn't find it!
Netitishi Point
Brando explaining how high he'll jump, if we find a Great Shearwater! Literally!
At Netitishi looking east towards Hannah Bay
Trouble!
Our cozy quarters. And the 'Hulk' getting angry!
Large sedge meadows were everywhere. This is right after seeing my lifer Gyr!
Big Momma!
Mikey
Hornemann's Hoary Redpoll!
This was just before the Chopper came. It snowed a good 15cm the night before
And here are two videos that I took, followed by a superb 'cap' video....
